Folks,
I also wonder about other nematodes, such as Angiostrongylus or other metastrongylus, for which the epidemiology is not completely known, but it is said ample opportunities for infection exist. Little is known about hairworms also, apparently just having been studied for past ten-plus years or so, were discovered in a field station bathroom and infected humans.

Angiostrongylus can infect mesenteric arteries, including the urogenital peritoneum, may wander in the body and mature in other locations, primarily in the CNS, meninges and eyes.

After my close encounter with moldy gnat-laden mulch in May which began my awareness of fibers, I saw in thick stringy viscous clear sinus secretion, under 10/0.25 power, a critter that appeared like the starship enterprise and looked like description of barberpole worm, only it was blue and white alternating, instead of red and white. I saw two; one had fibrous/filamentous material twisted/wrapped around the middle
?covering ovaries and it blew my mind and I had no way to capture it on film. At same time, I saw a hollow tubular ?critter, wider at the ends, with a large toothlike structure (like a thorn) at one end, which I assumed might be what was stabbing pinhole lesions in my skin.

Back then I saw many plantlike structures in my sputum/nasal secretions under microscopy, which looked like the lifesize pieces of grass/material I saw in my environment. I swear I got bitten by some <1 inch pod or cuticle dried grasslike things when I sat on my couch. I once found a pair near toilet and could not get <2 inch twiglike thing into specimen cup--it kept "leaping" out. I had seen one once before and assumed it was inhabited like a mexican jumping bean with some sort of larval worm. Small _at_ 1+. inch pieces of ?grass on my bathroom floor appeared to have tiny slender clear ?worms impregnating them. Made me think of the news bleep about farmers in ?Idaho breaking out with Morgellons or skin infection of newsworthy sort. In fact I first described "fibers" passed from my ahem GI tract as red, blue and "like cornsilk."

I don't know how all this fits together or if I had more than one critter from walking barefoot and gardening without gloves, etc. I also have slow drain in shower where many "hairs" accumulate, and past sewer problems. Thanks for listening. This is cathartic.
nettimo

London wrote:New poster above with the long post (sorry, I have forgoton your username too, Sorry.) I have to agree with what you said about the bodies on immune system and keeping it healthy......I do....

But I think these parasites are reproducible ones, just replicated.....Do you think the same medicines, herbs apply in treatment of the realy ones?

does anyone know...???

I have gone thru what I believe is gene translocation.....I'm not falling for the hereditary BS......My fiance' and I could noyt have not by chance both woken up the same moring with huge swollen feet and ankles......then both go to a doctor 2 months later and both diagnosed as Rheum. Arthritic......there is no way that would have been hereditary just passing down the genetic factor from our parents on the same moring...... Thanks for your post though, going to back and rearead it and all of them again. They were all really good.

Hi London;

Good to hear your thought that the immune system plays a role. Tamtam mentioned 'peptides' in his recent post and suggested that quorum-sensing may be affected by them; peptides are generated by the brain-system and have a relationship to emotions. Candace Pert has done some fantastic research on the impact peptides have on disease AND the immune system, so I think it's safe to say that your feelings and attitude could have a strong impact on your body's fighting ability. The placebo factor alone is credited with up to a 30% impact on a disease condition - who wouldn't take the gift of upping their odds 30%, just through belief? Add that to a medicine that has 20% chance of effectiveness and did you just go from 20% to 50% odds at cure? If I were in your shoes, I'd probably take it!

RE: your questions:

You ask if herbs and other products/practices have an impact if the organisms are natural as opposed to synthetic. Of course, I don't have any background in the specifics of this particular condition but think of it this way:

You're walking around in a container that's got millions of years of evolution on its side. You're really just a huge bunch of walking bacteria-sets that are mostly not-at-war; everybody's doing its job - organs, nerves, cells - and you're just tripping along inside, basically having a good time, looking to reproduce, rest, eat, reduce stress, etc. (simplified, but you get the picture...)

When you/your cells run into something inside the 'fence' - your skin - that's not playing nice, your cells generally take it on and kick it out. That doesn't happen if your cells don't recognize the "signs of the bad guy" early enough to prevent damage, or to prevent the bad guys from laying so many eggs/cells/spores/bad dna bombs before they're discovered that you're overwhelmed when they all finally hatch. Genetically modified super-bugs designed to kill pests in crops, for example, are actually designed to be hidden from the host's defenses/immune system until too late - that's one reason they're successful.

Anyhow, if your body's healthy it can sense invaders more readily. That's all there is to it. Stressed immune systems may be more easily invaded because they've already got so much on their plate that the new bug just gets missed in the crowd. Whether the bug is engineered, or natural, or something engineered hiding inside something natural, your body doesn't care - it will go after the bugger and kick it out if it knows it's there and figures out what it's up to. Support your body and you support your fighting front (and you'll be healthier in a lot of other ways as well.)

Large scale system changes like pH, temperature, oxygenation, hydration, salinity, etc. are what the human body is designed to handle. When we find out what kills the things on a systemic level, and when we understand their life-cycles our bodies can sometimes be changed so that the parasite dies but we don't (chemo is like that) Parasites have a cycle and the best way to kill them naturally is to understand that cycle and then hit them in the weak part of it.

Once I get a bit more exposure to the various treatments that seem to work and don't work I (and others in this and other forums) can put my natural-health knowledge in gear and see if I can uncover some common patterns. (Direction to lists of these things will help me). I'm not a doctor, so I won't be prescribing, but medicine is as much philosophy as it is anything else - you can be your own best physician if you work from sound principles and hire good people (doctors) to help you think things through.

As far as heredity goes as a factor in transmission - when I said "genetic" I also said "not just DNA"; you and your partner could have something similar - a blood type or clotting factor; a similar metabolic feature; or even a common gene that's more like blue eyes and less like family - you don't have to be visibly or family-related to have common genetic traits.

Tamtam implied that this disease affects a small enough segment of people right now that you'll just be considered a statistic by the corporate community. I think less than .01% of people were even genetically susceptible to the eosinophilia disease that the GMO L-Tryptophan - actually a GMO bacterium used in the culture of the L-tryptophan that altered it very slightly - caused over a decade ago - acceptable losses in the evil-chemist's book.

What do you mean by "gene translocation?" That sounds interesting.

Additionally, can anyone point me to any info. on the suspected transmission vectors of this thing? The posts here are dense and great AND there's no way to jump from section to section in the 285 pages of posts - I have to go through them one by one; I'm visiting crossinglines.net, Skytroll's site, the morgellon's watch, and other sites.

Thanks. PMs are fine, btw. It might keep my long sentences from clogging up your pipes here, unless they work for you.

on the scene way before GMOs ex islamist poet and
scientist Omar Khayyams theory of an all-powerful all-loving God of Islam(and of Christianity) was impossible per common human experience; yet he also thought there had to be some design in the humans, animals and plants. If he only had ebay to equip. and test his theory and he could have perserved the nature of intention without the economic influance of modernity to contort gene science that allows such deformations as CaMV and horizontal gene transfer.

Horizontal gene transfer, means the transfer of the genetic material directly by infection to the genetic material of unrelated species, in principle to all species interacting with the GMO: bacteria, fungi, earthworms, nematodes, protozoa, insects, small mammals and human beings. This process is uncontrollable and cannot be recalled. The damages done are hence irreversible. Transgenic DNA has been designed to be invasive and to overcome species barriers; once released, it will invade different organisms, especially bacteria which are in all environments, where it will multiply, mutate and recombine.
Leading to an increased potential for the horizontal spread of transgenic DNA. For example," enzymes that insert the transgenic DNA into the genome can also help them to jump out again; DNAreleased from both dead or live cells can survive without being degraded in all environments, including the mouth and gut of mammals; DNA can be readily taken up into cells; and all cells can take up naked or free DNA. The instability of transgenic DNA may also be enhanced as the result of the metabolic stress inflicted on the organism by the CaMV promoter that gives continuous over-expression of transgenes."

what givin nada a headache is the efforts under way to digitize life and the true reason for industrialization ... hell the ancient hindus had mercury vortex loop powerd flying machines... whats with sequence of so called "inventions" or blatent mother board logic terra forming social systems.. when you yanked that old 3.5 " floppy drive to make room for the cd burner what happened to the floppy drive ?

"The cyanobacterial hepatotoxins, microcystin and nodularin, are produced by a wide range of cyanobacteria. Microcystin production has been reported in the four cyanobacterial orders: Oscillatoriales, Chroococcales, Stigonematales, and Nostocales. The production of nodularin is a distinct characteristic of the Nostocales genus Nodularia. A single rapid method is needed to reliably detect cyanobacteria that are potentially capable of producing these hepatotoxins. To this end, a PCR was designed to detect all potential microcystin and nodularin-producing cyanobacteria from laboratory cultures as well as in harmful algal blooms. The aminotransferase (AMT) domain, which is located on the modules mcyE and ndaF of the microcystin and nodularin synthetase enzyme complexes, respectively, was chosen as the target sequence because of its essential function in the synthesis of all microcystins as well as nodularins. Using the described PCR, it was possible to amplify a 472 bp PCR product from the AMT domains of all tested hepatotoxic species and bloom samples. Sequence data provided further insight into the evolution of the microcystin and nodularin synthetases through bioinformatic analyses of the AMT in microcystin and nodularin synthetases, with congruence between the evolution of 16S rRNA and the AMT domain."

I saw where you mentioned the Cauliflower virus, I too came across that about 5 or 6 days ago, and you know, yep, the good old cyanobacteria traps the sunlight and spits the carbon dioxide.....blah, blah,
yeah, Bernard came down witrh some good plants did he not?

Nadas and Skytroll and Netimo, I was looking at more fibers today and came across one that is blue-green in color, sounding a wee bit like the color of that cyanobacteria...

It was GaN or Gallium Nitrate......it is the cause of a lot of this

so called phenomenom and wierdo sci fi stuff some of us are witnessing,
is what I think to be caused from the Gallium........

London....

and Skytroll, just like I said back when we started posting here.....the cell phones (the LED light ) and the screeens.....as in Plasmas.

Uh-hah!!!

Now, that just further exacerbates our orinal theories and even some of those companies into a beuatiful thing called realization and truth.

So Nadas, What do you think about this Gallium?

Now, tell me it's not all about the Light.......oh yeah, the softwear giants better pay up dammit, Hey, no wonder why John Kern took such an interest here on this forum, Maybe he is an investor?

Now check this out (Geo? Nada, you said you did not believe, well you should brother......I'm talking solar cells and tsunami (FAKE-ARSE WAVES MY FRIEND.....)

YOU ARE TOO SMART TO DENY THIS NADAS.....GIMME YOUR THOUGHTS

here we go, hold on Skytroll, the sky is about to FALL.....

White light technology

In days to come, cost-effective white Light-Emitting Diode (LED) technology will change the way cities and houses are lit up everyday after twilight, eminent scientist C N R Rao said.

‘’The white LEDs coated with Gallium Nitride (GaN) will bring about a lighting revolution as traditional bulbs and solar lamps will become a thing of the past,’’ says Professor Rao, the honorary President of Bangalore-based Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. ‘’This technology is presently used in cheap small flash torches available in the market,’’ the professor said, trying to relate the technology to some of the practical applications.

‘’The white light technology is cost-effective as significant energy saving is possible,’’ he said, adding ‘’The devices have a superior life-span and will not blow out as a traditional bulb or incandescent lighting does.’’ — UNI

We provide a scientific rationale for the astrobiological investigation of Mars. We suggest that, given practical constraints, the most promising locations for the search for former life on Mars are palaeolake craters and the evaporite deposits that may reside within them. We suggest that Raman spectroscopy offers a promising tool for the detection of evidence of former (or extant) biota on Mars. In particular, we highlight the detection of hopanoids as long-lived bacterial cell wall products and photosynthetic pigments as the most promising targets.We further suggest that Raman spectroscopy as a fibre optic-based instrument lends itself to flexible planetary deployment.

The cream has made the lesions really soft and mine are rather deep and they keep debreeding at a ratehr rapid pace, faster than the panafil or accuzyme for sure.

There is a teeny bit of stinging and the rest of my arms are peeling like a suntan peels but not in a big piece in little balls when I run it. The cream is gooey so that is part of that too but the skin underneath feels so soft. It was a bit hardened before.

Even if this stuff does not cure I just may use it for body cream.

anyways...stuff keeps coming out of the lesions..and the pain associated with them..like when you touch them is gone.

I placed some in my nose cuz all of this week I had such itching in there and the itching is now gone.

So, no instant miracles but the hardened skin is now peeled off and soft skin is underneath.

I still have red spots but what I want to see is if when the red is gone if I still have pigment left.

I was told that I should give theis a minimum of three weeks for a full report. So I will.

I was also contacted by a guy who is the main distributor for SilverDyne or dine.

He is looking for people to test his product on.

anyone interested I can pass your e-mail address.telephone number and address on to him. He is giving out the stuff for free but he ahs rules you have to follow so the test is valid.

Randy, I don't know if you would think I would be a good candidate to try it, but I would love to try it, I just will not give out my mailing address. It look likes I will have to pass, but PLEASE keep us posted.
Cynthia, I'm very sorry, I ment to mention you in my last post. Thank you for all the info; it is appreciated, a lot.

As far as my partner and I, nope, I don't think it was hereditary, nor geneitcs, DNA> aNY OF THAT. I do think it was from problems with waste management but of course I'm talking about ELECTRONIC WASTE!!

i'M SORRY, BUT i HAVE GONE THRU THREE LAPTOPS SINCE 1997! AND AFTER THE NEWS THAT CAME OUT TODAY......WELL, IT ONLY CONFIRMS MY SUSPICIENS but dunno for sure. I plan to look into that a lot more.

now now London never said i was not a believer just because of attempt to debunk my own posts but after a few to many glimpses into code this **** scares the hell out of me and is just about the most unearthly concept to understand and i have most of stanislaw lems work.
tam tam thanx, the bumps kept the search from drifting too far astray...

now none of you are going to like this . . so sorry:

Human pose estimation with data driven belief propagation

Abstract

A statistical formulation estimates two-dimensional human pose from single images. This is based on a Markov network and on inferring pose parameters from cues such as appearance, shape, edge, and color. A data-driven belief propagation Monte Carlo algorithm performs efficient Bayesian inferencing within a rigorous statistical framework. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in estimating human pose from single images.
thttp://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Pa ... a&RS=ViolaUnited States Patent Application: 0060098865

1. A method for localizing a probe within a cell,
a) providing a sample comprising a cell expressing a membrane bound polypeptide, said polypeptide comprising a single chain antibody and an organelle targeting sequence wherein said single chain antibody binds to a specific ligand, wherein the ligand is phOx, wherein the membrane is a Golgi membrane, an Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) or a plasma membrane;

b) contacting the sample of a) with a membrane permeant probe/ligand conjugate, the probe/ligand conjugate comprising:

i) a probe moiety,

ii) a ligand comprising phOx, and

iii) a linker moiety coupling the probe to the ligand; and

c) detecting the probe/ligand conjugate within the cell, thereby localizing the probe within the cell.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the probe is a spectroscopic probe.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the polypeptide is a fusion protein.

ii) detecting the probe/ligand conjugate, before and at least one time after addition of the stimulus.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the detecting comprises detecting at least one optical property of the spectroscopic probe.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the optical property is fluorescence emission.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the optical property is fluorescence anisotropy.

14. A method for localizing a probe, the method comprising:

a) providing a sample comprising a cell expressing a specific binding partner, wherein the binding partner is a recombinant membrane bound polypeptide, said polypeptide comprising a single chain antibody that specifically binds to phOx, wherein the membrane is a Golgi membrane, an Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) or a plasma membrane:

b) contacting the cell of a) with a probe/ligand conjugate, the probe/ligand conjugate comprising:

i) a probe moiety,

ii) a ligand comprising phOx, and

iii) a linker moiety coupling the probe to the ligand, wherein the ligand and the specific binding partner bind non-covalently, and wherein the probe/ligand conjugate is membrane permeant,

c) detecting the probe/ligand conjugate within the cell, thereby localizing the probe within the cell.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the probe provides a more intense signal when the probe/ligand conjugate is bound to the single chain antibody than when it is unbound.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the probe provides a more intense signal when the probe/ligand conjugate is bound to the single chain antibody than when is unbound.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the single chain antibody is bound to a Golgi apparatus membrane or an endoplasmic reticulum membrane.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the probe is a pH sensitive fluorescent probe.
Description:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to membrane permeant compounds that have an organic compound coupled to a ligand and methods of localizing and using such compounds as spectroscopic probes, or reagents.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Studies on intact living tissues and cells often require the introduction of reagents or spectroscopic probes into the cells in order to provide a specific stimulus or to measure a particular cellular function. Such approaches are typically improved in both selectivity and sensitivity if the reagents or spectroscopic probes can be targeted to specific locations within a cell or organism. For example, the selective targeting of spectroscopic probes within a cell enables defined measurements of subcellular microenvironments such as within subcellular organelles to be precisely probed. The use of spectroscopic probes tagged to macromolecules enables spatio-temporal aspects of a tagged macromolecule to be monitored in real time in vivo. Such methods can be used to develop a variety of specific assays for cellular activation, or to create functional assays of enzymatic function. For example, the location of a nuclear receptor within a cell can be determined by creating a fusion protein of the receptor to a specific binding partner and then observing its movement, after addition of a fluorescent ligand for the specific binding partner, in response to a test stimulus, such as a chemical. In this example, activation of nuclear receptor results in their translocation into the nucleus, which can be used as an assay to determine the relative activity of a series of different chemicals.

In spite of the many advantages of this approach there are few general methods of labeling macromolecules, such as proteins with organic compounds within intact living organisms, that are specific and selective enough to be of practical utility.

Sixteen topics from the results of the research project Molecular Mechanisms for Responses of the Photosynthetic Apparatus to the Environment, are documented in this excellent and timely work. Photosynthesis research has a long history in Japan, with many very active and productive laboratories working in this field. Based on the foundation established by these laboratories, the research reflected in this book focuses on elucidating the interactions between photosynthesis and the environment, with special emphasis on the molecular aspects of these interactions. The major purpose of the research was to identify specific genes required for repair of the organisms from stress-induced damage to the photosynthetic machinery and to report the acclimatisation of photosynthetic processes to specific changes in environmental conditions. Once specific genes were identified, the effects of expression (and over-expression) of these genes in transgenic plants on acclimation processes were analysed. On the basis of the analysis of transgenic plants and cyanobacteria, the work clarifies a number of molecular mechanisms by which plants acclimate to environmental variations, and the factors that govern recovery from stress-induced damage, especially with respect to the photosynthetic apparatus. A treatise on stress physiology and photosynthesis, the book also indicates the agricultural usefulness of transgenic plants and microalgae that are produced to study the molecular mechanisms of the tolerance of plants to changes in their environment

on old telnet sysop would toss topics that were dead a "bump" kept it alive
or rather at the top of the posts..
a bump in human form would refer to insufulating narcotics witch by the way is illegal but
a microbiologist in a post 911 world may need a bump of the tird kind , in the form of crypto ... .. . ... .

This invention is in the field of tissue-based biosensors. More particularly it utilizes photosynthetic microorganisms such as green algae and cyanobacteria for the detection of chemical warfare agents in drinking water sources. The principle of operation of the detector is based on the well-known scientific fact that the quantum yield of fluorescence is dependent on the ability of photosynthetic organisms to perform photosynthesis. This phenomenon is used in the present invention to construct biosensors that can be used for the rapid detection of, for example, chemical warfare agents in the field. All natural sources of water that are exposed to sunlight contain such algae. Water from a selected source is drawn into a cell and the fluorescence monitored with a compact optoelectronic recording system. Combined with a cell modem and encrypted communications, it is possible, for example to send coded messages to field commanders informing them of the safety of drinking water supplies in a war zone.

As water samples are passed through the cell, any component of the water that negatively impacts photosynthetic capability will cause a change in the fluorescence induction curve, with resultant changes in the quantum yield of fluorescence. As described in further detail below, the change in fluorescence represents a decrease in photosynthetic capability. Different chemical warfare agents will have different influences on the photosynthetic apparatus of a particular alga or cyanobacterium. And the same chemical agent will affect the fluorescence of different organisms in different ways. Some will cause an increase, while others will cause a decrease in fluorescence (non-photochemical quenching of fluorescence). Specific antagonists combined with specific algae or cyanobacteria will cause characteristic changes that can be used to construct a look-up library or database of cause and effect combinations.

Water-soluble toxic chemical and/or biological agents, for example, blood agents, cyanide, pesticides (methyl parathion, for example) and herbicides (DCMU, for example) could pose a threat to potable drinking water supplies. Every water source that is exposed to sunlight contains populations of photosynthetic microorganisms (phytoplankton and algae, for example), at concentrations ranging from 10 to as high as 100,000 organisms/ml. Although always present in sunlight-exposed water, these microorganisms are often invisible to the unaided eye. Phytoplankton emits a characteristic fluorescence signal that, if detectable in solutions with low microorganism concentrations, can be utilized as an in situ indicator of chemical and/or biological warfare agents in the water supply. Pesticides, herbicides and cyanide have been detected in "as is" algal liquid cultures, solely by measuring alterations in algal fluorescence emissions. Algae in water at concentrations found in natural aquatic environments were tested for feasibility as biosensors for water-soluble herbicides, pesticides and cyanide.

EXAMPLE I

FIG. 1 is an illustration of the detection of methyl parathion, a commercially available insecticide and cholinesterase inhibitor. The water sample was taken directly from the Clinch River, Oak Ridge, Tenn. and analyzed "as is." A Walz XE-PAM pulse-amplitude-modulation fluorometer was used to monitor fluorescence emitted from the naturally occurring algae in the river water. The sample was placed in a cuvette (3 ml) in the fluorometer optical compartment. An actinic light pulse (500 μE/m2/sec) from the fluorometer's halogen lamp illuminated the sample for 10 seconds and fluorescence induction curves were recorded. Eight minutes after the initial measurement (control period), methyl parathion was added to the sample to a final concentration of 18 μg/mL. The control fluorescence induction curve and the curve after exposure to the methyl parathion are presented in FIG. 1. A clear change in the initial fluorescence (Fo) and maximum fluorescence (Fmax) can be observed in the figure. Moreover, the distinction between control and methyl parathion-treated sample persists over the entire time course of the 10-second measurement. This fluorometric sensing technique can be used to detect the presence of methyl parathion in algae-containing primary drinking water sources. A useful number that may be derived from the fluorescence curves is the optimal quantum efficiency of Photosystem II, defined as (Fmax-Fo)/Fmax. This can be a quick method of determining if the algae have been exposed to harmful agents.

EXAMPLE II

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the detection of potassium cyanide (KCN), a well known poison. The experimental protocol was similar to that of Example I above. Control and sample fluorescence curves are illustrated. Six minutes after exposure of the sample to a 2 mM final concentration of KCN, a clear difference between control and sample can be observed, including a widening of the maximal fluorescence peak (P) in the KCN curve that indicates slower fluorescence quenching after maximal fluorescence has been reached. The Fo and Fmax values are altered as well. This fluorometric sensing technique can detect cyanide at concentrations below the minimum level for human toxicity. EXAMPLE III

The effect of herbicide 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU) on the water sample fluorescence induction curve was tested in a manner similar to Example I above. When DCMU was added to the cuvette, fluorescence increased considerably and was accompanied by a dramatic change in kinetic time course. A test fluorescence curve (FIG. 3) was recorded after a 6-minute exposure using a final concentration of 10 μM DCMU.

A simple biosensor 10 for carrying out the method of present invention is shown schematically in FIG. 4. A fluorometer 12 is attached to a cell 14 so that a cell window 16 faces the fluorometer input 18. The cell has an inlet 20 having an optional particulate filter 36 and an outlet 26 for passing water therethrough. A pump 24 draws water from the outlet 26 and expels same through an exit 28. The cell 14 could have a displacement pump which draws water into the cell and expels same through a common inlet/outlet opening (analogous to 20), obviating outlet 26 and exit 28. Any means for introducing water into the cell and discharging water from the cell is suitable for carrying out the present invention.

The fluorometer 12 must be of sufficient sensitivity for measuring photosynthetic activity of naturally occurring, free-living, indigenous photosynthetic organisms drawn into the cell 14 with sample water. Applicants used a Walz XE-PAM pulse-amplitude-modulation fluorometer available from Heinz Walz GmbH•Eichenring 6•D-91090 Effeltrich•GERMANY Phone: +49-(0)9133/7765-0•Telefax: +49-(0)9133/5395•E-Mail: [email protected]. The Walz XE-PAM fluorometer is described in detail at the following Internet web site: http://www.walz.com/pamzta.htm

The fluorometer is electrically connected by a connector 32 to an electronics package 30, which includes a power supply, systems for operating the fluorometer 12 and pump 24, data processing electronics, and a transmitter that transmits a signal through an antenna 34. The electronics package 30 contains commonly used devices that are well known in the art. The particular components that are used therein, and the particular method of gathering, processing, and transmitting data are not critical to the operation of the present invention.

Operation of the biosensor 10 can be constant sampling or intermittent sampling. Intermittent operation can be random sampling or timed sampling. The pump 24 is operated to cause water to flow through the cell 14. The fluorometer 12 is activated to measure fluorescence in the water flowing through the cell 14. The electronics package 30 analyzes raw data from the fluorometer 12, and emits a signal through the antenna 34 indicating the presence and/or absence of chemical warfare agent(s) in the water. The signal is received by equipment that indicates and/or records the data.

In a stationary embodiment of the invention, the biosensor is a sentinel, as shown schematically in FIG. 5 in a typical water supply. A stream 50 is shown cross-sectionally in FIG. 5 as a water source. The water source can be a creek, river, canal, lake, pond, spring, or any other source of water that contains photosynthetic microorganisms. A submerged water intake strainer 52 and intake pipe 54 are shown. The pipe 54 is buried under the ground 56 to hide it from enemies. Rocks 58 in the stream 50 are used to hide the intake 52. Also hidden in the rocks 58 (or even disguised as a rock, plant, or etc.) at or upstream from the intake 52 is a biosensor 10 with its antenna 34. The biosensor 10 will detect and report chemical and/or biological warfare agents that have been used to contaminate the water and injure personnel that drink the water.

In a mobile embodiment of the invention, the biosensor 10 is installed inside a miniature water-going vessel such as a boat or preferably a submarine 70, as shown schematically in FIG. 6, which is suitable for placement of a biosensor in a large water supply source such as a lake, wide river, or large pond. The submarine 70 typically has a hull 76, control surfaces 74, a propeller 78, a submarine propulsion and control system 72, and a power supply 80. The power supply 80 supplies power to the propulsion and control system 72 and optionally to the biosensor 10. The submarine 70 is programmed to move about in a body of water, sample the water, and detect and report chemical and/or biological warfare agents that have been used to contaminate the water and injure personnel which drink the water.

The present invention confers practical advantages that are not heretofore known or appreciated. These include: no problems with sensor fouling and therefore no need to replace the sensor; continuous read-out; and long-term stability of the system.

While there has been shown and described what are at present considered the preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be prepared therein without departing from the scope of the inventions defined by the appended claims.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6964857.html